Friedman’s scenario of “another 9/11” asks: How must we prevent the terrorized “99 percent” from slamming shut the doors of our open society? Courageous Americans ask: What limits will we place on the government’s Big Data counter-terrorism operations precisely because we aspire to keep our society open?

Friedman fears a backlash to inadequate state security. But critics of failed counter-terrorism will be no more satisfied by the government’s assurances than civil libertarians are today. “Trust us, we did our best” and “Trust us, we won’t abuse our power” flip the coin that is the unanswerable lack of transparency in our counter-terrorism regime.

Sure, we can swallow our unease now about the government archiving all our cellular communications, electronic correspondence, and internet histories — just to face more intrusions later.

Friedman claims to “blow the whistle” on the prospect of Americans demanding absolute security measures — “privacy be damned!” This trivializes real situations when citizens and employees risk their livelihoods for the sake of their community’s freedom and flourishing.

Given his assumption that the NSA must protect “our beautiful open society” not only from the attacks of terrorists but also from the clamor of American citizens, Friedman isn’t whistle-blowing. He’s whistling in the dark.